Comments

What a terribly uninspired expansion. 3 zones really, with 4-5 instanced variations of the theme.

Seriously, that's about it. I wouldn't care really, if the new zones provided some semblance of reward.

I look at the lackluster items I can get from COTF, and the gains are so marginal in comparison to the groupable gear I have from ROF (in some cases no improvements at all).

I went from a full suit of ROF tier one to a full suit of COTF tier one and the difference was so slight that I barely noticed any significant change.

Where is the /drool factor we used to get?? Why has the gear become so "ho-hum" and devoid of personality?

Now every weapon and piece of armor is part of some generic "assembly-line" category. The only perceptible variance in these items is the name and some very minor differences in stats. Everything non-raid has become a carbon-copy of other items from that "tier" (perhaps lumping everything into tiers and not letting zones have their own identity is also a bad idea. This is Everquest, not accounting software).

And the content...how bloody predictable can it get?

Cotf is yet another expansion that drops you off into a quest hub where a few dozen quest-givers are standing around eager to plug you into "progression," which is a term that has come to resonate in my mind with the same unpleasantness as "corporate ladder" or "hysterectomy." Much like RoF, where, rather than give it some thought, you're toon is just deposited in a big circular ring with 6 portals leading to the various tiers. In the interest of convenience, of course.

Once you're plugged into the life-sapping-progression-matrix, you basically "work" through these until it has been established, through the magic of "achievements," who in your guild can stomach the most tedium.

And all so you can get some new items with very minor improvements and all have the same 33.33% drop-rate, and all have one of the 5 generic procs on them (sympathetic rune/sap/dmg/heal/yawn XIVXII).

I know the go-hards eat this crap up, and would gladly throw their wallets at Sony for any marginal increase they can get and lord over each other, but not so much for the rest of us...

You equate wanting SOE to sell you a brand new expansion for $10 to $20 for content you won’t experience, but just want it for the AA’s and other parts. As the same thing as SOE placing *badge of honor* or * rare* items in game and then selling items =/> for real money in their marketplace. The whole idea of Everquest is….get ready for this…..In-Game Experience. For example, Achievement: Master of AlarisThis achievement is gained upon completing all quests, missions, challenges, and hunts in the Veil of Alaris. • Champion of Alaris • Paragon of Alaris • Veilslayer • Challenger of Alaris **Take a minute and realize what it takes to compete those listed above. Rewards: Satchel of the Alaran Legend awesome 32 slot bag. Prismatic Selyrah Saddle / summons fast mount with stat bonus AA: Hero's Barracks

The largest crafted bag one could hope to make was Tailored Supreme line…530 Trival 16 slot bag. The largest In-Game bag, iirc was the 24 slot rare drop or raid drop Scuffed Journeyman's Rucksack. Or was it Scuffed Journeyman's Pocketed Rucksack..i can’t remember now.

Does that sound like a hassle…too much effort… no sweat Journeyman's Pocketed Rucksack 32 slot bag in marketplace for real life money. Fast mounts with stat bonus available in marketplace for real life money.

By SOE selling items in their marketplace that are very hard to acquire In-Game, they destroy the achievement of those playing the game. Period

Its like SOE back in early 2K saying; “If you feel getting your epic is just too much effort, here buy this weapon of equal stats from our marketplace.” Tired of those rare spawn named and the even more uber rare drop….pffft, for a few real life dollars, you to bypass all that. And if you think that those two concepts are equal….I feel sorry for you.

If it was priced at $10 or $20 i would take advantage of the aa and some other parts of the expansion right away. If it had a lvl increase then obviously i would take advantage of that right away. Then later on i would go through the expansion. I am sure there are plenty of people that own Cotf and don't actively hunt in Cotf zones. Check on your server.

I don't see why you are so upset about the fact that im not willing to shell out $40 for it. Its not like im cursing out SoE or anything like that. In the old days they told people that the $40 would pay for all the previous expansions, The $40 really only pays for that expansion and the previous one. F2p model is only 2 expansions behind. It doesn't take a genius to see why you shouldn't have to shell out $40 for just 2 expansions or why they should have a sale on the latest expansion only for $10 or $20.

They gotta make $. I understand that. That is why they are getting people to pay them just to get into the beta for eqnext. When the next expansion is released im sure ill shell out the $40 for that and get CotF along with it. $40 for 2 expansions is fine with me. If the expansion after the next one increases the level limit i won't be getting that one. I will skip an expansion at the current pricing plan regardless of whats offered. Though like i said if they offered it at $10 or $20 then that is a different story.

i quit the game after treading water waiting months for tier 4 (i bought in november)to be released, i wont buy a staggered release expansion again.dragging it out isn't a way to retain players.its just a time sink.

I AGREE !!! The little at a time was good with ROF. It was something to look forward to. No level increase is awesome to I'm a layed back player I enjoy the game a lot but a lot of time when new expansion come out it is always about the end game about time it is more for the relax player. But with saying that I do have to say I hope some of the add ons for the expansion has raids for those that enjoy them.

I am willing to buy Call of the Forsaken, if I have to allow mercs to use aa's. I hope they just make it regardless if you buy it or not mercs have aa's. I tend to solo a lot so mercs having aa's sure will help; since I am using Journeyman 1, can't get no help to get 2,3,4, or 5, 1 with aa's will just have to work.

I just wish they would release every race, and class of Mercenaries already.

I am willing to buy Call of the Forsaken, if I have to allow mercs to use aa's. I hope they just make it regardless if you buy it or not mercs have aa's. I tend to solo a lot so mercs having aa's sure will help; since I am using Journeyman 1, can't get no help to get 2,3,4, or 5, 1 with aa's will just have to work.

I just wish they would release every race, and class of Mercenaries already.

Edited, Aug 7th 2013 3:54pm by cjguy

Its nearly impossible to have "every race and every class" of mercenaries. can you imagine an enchanter merc running around mezzing random targets, or a bard merc singing haste to a caster group? Yeah, I think they need to just stick with the basics (as currently) with the merc classes. Aa and gear will be amazing.

They've done that in a game already. It's called EQ 2. Paladin and Shadowknight Mercs run rampant. From what I've seen of the game: It really kind of sucks gameplay wise compared to EQ 1, because the release of full mercs made it too easy to afk level to max level(just occasionally change zones). As for mercs with AAs, the thing I like about mercs is the fact that they DON'T have AAs. Why? Because it's a ****** solution to the problem of soloing. You have a way of surviving with a merc that is unique, but ******, very very ******. That's the point though. You aren't supposed to want merc groups over actual groups, you always want the better option. By giving mercs the capacity to gain AAs: you're going to see a lot more people turning down real actual groups in place of merc leveling, because somebody with low AAs in their class isn't going to compare to the merc, when, under the current system, ********* player > Merc.

____________________________

"Some claim they wish to be enlightened or wish to experience Zen. This is an absurdity, you do not 'become' enlightened or 'experience' Zen. If you wish to be enlightened, BE." - Unknown

They've done that in a game already. It's called EQ 2. Paladin and Shadowknight Mercs run rampant. From what I've seen of the game: It really kind of sucks gameplay wise compared to EQ 1, because the release of full mercs made it too easy to afk level to max level(just occasionally change zones). As for mercs with AAs, the thing I like about mercs is the fact that they DON'T have AAs. Why? Because it's a sh*tty solution to the problem of soloing. You have a way of surviving with a merc that is unique, but sh*tty, very very sh*tty. That's the point though. You aren't supposed to want merc groups over actual groups, you always want the better option. By giving mercs the capacity to gain AAs: you're going to see a lot more people turning down real actual groups in place of merc leveling, because somebody with low AAs in their class isn't going to compare to the merc, when, under the current system, sh*ttiest player > Merc.

Yeah but you've earned those AA for a merc that is typically more responsive then most player characters, so of course you'd want to use it! Besides a select few clerics, I would trust a merc cleric with AA and better gear to keep me alive over an actual player any day.

Going to skip this expansion for 2 reasons . One is no level cap raise and second is I'm not paying for new weak Mercs I have to waste time AA'ing and equipping to get them to where they were when they were free. How stupid to introduce a weak new Merc just to "create" a new feature to fix them to where they should be Grrsh!! Anyway SKIPPING it. And LDON sucked, I didn't have a group of fanboiz to do 50 a day with LOL.

Going to skip this expansion for 2 reasons . One is no level cap raise and second is I'm not paying for new weak Mercs I have to waste time AA'ing and equipping to get them to where they were when they were free. How stupid to introduce a weak new Merc just to "create" a new feature to fix them to where they should be Grrsh!! Anyway SKIPPING it. And LDON sucked, I didn't have a group of fanboiz to do 50 a day with LOL.

Sounds like i can skip this expansion. No new levels. Not at the $40 price tag they always end up costing. Now if they had it priced at $10 to $20 for this next expansion only and no previous ones i would jump at that.

I can't afford to get krono's anymore in game since they nerfed the Franklin Teek money reward that came with changing the hot zones. I never got a reply from that troll Baeddon either.

Seems like they will be releasing new zones every 2 or 3 months now instead of waiting 9 months or more between expansion and just releasing the whole thing at once. Way more easy to justify that $40 price tag for the expansion all the way till the next one is released. This way SoE can evily laugh all the way to the bank while bending over the remaining player base.

Really dude.....really?

I read your post three times in an attempt to make sense of it. $40 is the cost of the next expansion...the entire expansion in a staggered release just like RoF. What, because there are no new levels, but only new AA's? What difference does it make if it is all at once or staggered?!? You’re paying for the whole expansion. Oh wait...you just sit in Hot Zones for your levels....ah gotcha.

You can’t afford krono because they nerfed hot zone duckets? Really? This is the weakest thing I have read in ages. There are a dozen ways to make plat in this game…there used to be two dozen but SoE market crashed the drops from named and cultural gear/crafted weapons bazaar market in order to get the most casual of F2P players current geared for coppers on the plat. But you do realize that max tradeskilling skills are booming because of the Shawl Aug. Try selling tradeskill mats and make a ton, but that might require you actually doing something other than hot zones. Actually, try playing the whole game then you might have a point.

I guess i answered your questions Moonlight55 considering you haven't posted again unless you are a troll just like Baeddon. Just to be clear i wasn't complaining about the expansion coming out in parts either. I know you only pay once and you get the whole expansion "eventually". I never said you didn't. I was only pointing out that knowing SoE it would make the perfect excuse to "NEVER" lower the price on the expansion since they can say they are still releasing new content for it with the one time purchase over the course of the next 9 to 11 months before the next expansion.

I guess you need to read it a 4th or 5th time. I am already at max lvl with the characters i want at that level and there are plenty more characters i can level if i wanted too. I have characters i can play that aren't max level or at the 1000 aa cap for silver accounts. I will not pay $40 for content i won't experience. Only a fanboy would do something like that.

Everyone has a way of making pp that best suits that person. For you i guess its farming mat's as you put it. Good for you. Have fun. My way of making pp was 6 boxing Franklin Teek tasks. The reward for the lvl 85 task was 2048pp. The alternate task gave the same amount. So it wasn't difficult to make over 25k a day just doing the tasks and getting the loot from those monsters and selling the stuff to vendors. 10 kills = 25k. Easy money since Everquest went free to play. So excuse me for not spending hours farming for materials. I play Everquest for fun not to seem like a job pharming crap endlessly to make pp.

Lets do this old school in-line I guess you need to read it a 4th or 5th time. I am already at max lvl with the characters i want at that level and there are plenty more characters i can level if i wanted too. I have characters i can play that aren't max level or at the 1000 aa cap for silver accounts. I will not pay $40 for content i won't experience. Only a fanboy would do something like that.

OK…to sum up; You have a Max Lvl toon and you won’t spend $40 for content you won’t experience. You also have lower level toons without maxed aa’s you could also play…that won’t experience the new content. Yet you want them to price it at $10 to $20 for that expansion only (with no previous ones…yeah, no PoK, No Guild Hall…no other zones but the ones included in that expansion ONLY…you see they give you the previous WITH the price of the new…for new players, NOT the other way around)

My official Reply: Hmmm…..why even post about CotF? Really, it has absolutely nothing to do with your game experience. You’re ******** about the price of content you are not even going to play. For what?!? You have nothing more to add. Conversation over.

Everyone has a way of making pp that best suits that person. For you i guess its farming mat's as you put it. Good for you. Have fun. My way of making pp was 6 boxing Franklin Teek tasks. The reward for the lvl 85 task was 2048pp. The alternate task gave the same amount. So it wasn't difficult to make over 25k a day just doing the tasks and getting the loot from those monsters and selling the stuff to vendors. 10 kills = 25k. Easy money since Everquest went free to play. So excuse me for not spending hours farming for materials. I play Everquest for fun not to seem like a job pharming crap endlessly to make ppI guess i answered your questions Moonlight55 considering you haven't posted again unless you are a troll just like Baeddon. Just to be clear i wasn't complaining about the expansion coming out in parts either. I know you only pay once and you get the whole expansion "eventually". I never said you didn't. I was only pointing out that knowing SoE it would make the perfect excuse to "NEVER" lower the price on the expansion since they can say they are still releasing new content for it with the one time purchase over the course of the next 9 to 11 months before the next expansion.

Hmmm…..Before RoF, I was making millions of plat…plural and double digit plural. Not 1 copper was made from PL’ing either. I gave a small example on how to make plat. I made mine from doing ALL Missions, Named mob loot, Augs, crafted/cutural weapons and gear, potions/food/drink, tradeskill materials. So while you washed and repeated a Hot Zone money reward for your scrap change, I made millions by playing the whole game, and experiencing its new content. PS: that farming *crap* is being looted while playing the game…not the goal. And I have a full time job and I’m not on EQ 24/7. Here’s a hint…put away your box army and find real people. Yes, you might not get all the loot…but in the end you really won’t care.

You jumped on my smurf and called it "smurfing" for not wanting to get the expansion for $40 per account but let me quote you on something you said about VoA.

And here is a nice big smurf to SOE...smurf No really.... smurf SOE. Bigger bags for sale for RL money in the Marketplace...BUT NOT IN GAME. But in addition to buying it from SOE OUT OF GAME SYSTEM, they will also drop in game. OK...but will be Raid Drops and then we'll see them for sale for 500K to 1M pp by traders....Because, it is Not a tradeskill item? WTSmurf? Can't wait or don't have the plat..>NO Worries, you can buy them (like the 32 slot 100%WR bag) in the Marketplace...for real life money. Not in game.... Smurf SOE

But yes...I know all you little marketplace creepies have no issue with this.

You can say smurf to SoE and still buy the expansions like a tool or fanboy but i can't say smurf at all about it being priced at $40 and not buy it? That was just part of the "smurfing" you had done. I am sure there is no need to post it all. Now of course with your millions of pp i am sure its not even an issue. A few people jumped on you for complaining about it and here you are doing the same thing to me but i guess since you were going to buy it anyway that makes it okay.

Nice of you to finally reply all these months later. Too bad i had to send you a message in the first place. Yes i now how the pricing goes. Im just saying it wouldn't be bad if they released the expansion only for $10 or $20. I wouldn't mind getting some of the aa and other parts of it sound good. If you said you weren't going to pay $40 for the next expansion i wouldn't consider it ******** about the price. I would just figure you weren't getting it. So what. Only a fanboy would get upset about that.

Good to hear you finished the partisan, mercenary and mission part of the expansion in less then a month while working a full time job. That you are so current on content and apparently can easily make millions of pp. Not to mention how easy it was for you. Not even a challenge. You may not believe this but a lot of people that play Everquest aren't in that same league especially the people working.

I would much rather an expansion come out in different parts then all at once with the usual bugs, then repeated downtime. I'd like to see mercenaries be able to equip and use gear as well, whether it is normal gear, summoned mage gear or a special mercenary only type. I have been playing the game since inception and my biggest pet peeve is the long zone times. Yes it is better than it was years back, but I would like to see it fine tuned to where it is close to seemless as possible (insert EQ Next). Difficult perhaps with the old EQ machine but not impossible. While there at is, lets add some stationary NPCs that you can pay with plat to give you a drop down list of buffs they will cast on you. Handy on the days where you are /ooc for buffs with no response & don't have the "box" to cast that one. One can only wish. Glad there is no level increase too.

Seems this one caters to the everyday player and not the high end raider, which is fine, they need some good new content also. But I don't know why they can't cater to both, with T4 raid gear now to be viable thru next expansion with the raid gear there being little to no upgrade from T4 RoF raid gear, many will get bored and prolly not play nearly as much.

But I do love the merc AA's and 4 gear slots, I 3 box a lot and use 3 mercs. And with the new missions styled to be like Ldon 2.0, that could be interesting as well, will have to see.

I skipped buying VOA and RoF, so my account is due for an upgrade. Frankly I don't want levels beyond 100, just more content, and challenge. Also, I can understand their desire to release content gradually instead of all at once. Their department has probably severely withered over the last few years, the game is very very old now, it just seems to be reasonable. And besides, it's fun having new content every 3 months. Nobody complains about that with WoW: the expansion is released, and over the course of two years, various patches are released with increasingly challenging content and new features.

Sounds like i can skip this expansion. No new levels. Not at the $40 price tag they always end up costing. Now if they had it priced at $10 to $20 for this next expansion only and no previous ones i would jump at that.

I can't afford to get krono's anymore in game since they nerfed the Franklin Teek money reward that came with changing the hot zones. I never got a reply from that troll Baeddon either.

Seems like they will be releasing new zones every 2 or 3 months now instead of waiting 9 months or more between expansion and just releasing the whole thing at once. Way more easy to justify that $40 price tag for the expansion all the way till the next one is released. This way SoE can evily laugh all the way to the bank while bending over the remaining player base.

The last expansion came out in three parts. Original release, then 2 more after that. The latter two not costing anything more. I prefer this method because SoE can release part after tuning it, then the rest after tuning them instead of trying to push it all out at once.